PE and VC in Belgium and Russia: How Do They Compare?

The first week of the World Cup is in the books, and the only major surprise was Netherlands’ demolition of Spain (unless you placed your game bet according to our Spain vs. Netherlands comparison). Coming up this Sunday in Rio de Janeiro is a match between a hopeful and a sleeper; one of the smallest European countries and the largest country in the world; Belgium vs. Russia. We took a look inside the PE and VC landscapes of these countries and found some interesting facts.

Since the last World Cup, it is true that Belgium has had a higher number of investors, 159 to 136, and its top investor “Starting XI” holds the lead with 5 more deals than Russia’s, but Russia has dominated in the total number of deals, 369 to 298, and total capital invested, €15.9 billion to €6.73 billion, with major leads in the B2B and B2C industries.

PitchBook’s data also shows that Russian funds have raised over €8 billion more in committed capital than those of Belgium, aided by the €7.79 billion raised in 2011 (which was almost €7 billion more than the average raised in the other years).

Check out the datagraphic below (created by Jennifer Sam) for a visual representation of Belgium vs. Russia. Or take a second and request a demo of the PitchBook Platform to learn more about our Europe and International data. We will continue to add more World Cup content throughout the tournament with more datagraphics and analysis, be sure to check it all out by clicking on our World Cup tag.